Double-deck transportation device



April 10, 1962 A. H. MUELLER DOUBLE-DECK TRANSPORTATION DEVICE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 11, 1959 INVENTOR ALFRED H. MUELLER April 10,1962 A. H. MUELLER 3,029,102

DOUBLE-DECK TRANSPORTATION DEVICE Filed May 11, 1959 2 Shee'tsSheet 2INVENTOR ALFRED H. MUELLER ATTOR Y6 The present invention relates to aninstallation and arrangement for achieving a smooth flow or movement ofthe passengers in connection with a two-story transportation device,especially buses provided with a rear entrance and a forward exit andwith a stairway disposed within the vehicle interior space leading tothe upper deck of the bus.

It is known in the prior art in connection with twostory buses toprovide in the lower deck a rear entrance and a forward exit. A stairwayor the like leads from the entrances and exits shown in these prior artdevices to or from the upper deck.

The arrangement of a rear entrance and of only a single forward exit incombination with a rear stairway to permit the passengers to ascend fromthe lower deck to the upper deck and with a forward stairway to permitthe passengers to descend from the upper deck to the lower deck entailsthe disadvantage that a relatively long path has to be traversed by thepassengers who have taken a seat in proximity to the rear entrance inthe lower deck or in proximity to the rear stairway in the upper deck upto the forward exit. This condition causes delays at the stops which attimes entails inconveniences for the other trafiic participants,especially in connection with transportation devices running along railsand at stops without passenger aisles. Consequently, it is of interestin connection with such transportation devices to achieve a boarding andleaving of the bus on the part of the passengers which is as rapid aspossible.

With streetcars having only one deck, in order to attain relativelyshort periods of delay at the stops, only one rear entrance has beenselected while two exits have been provided, and more particularly, oneexit within the center of the vehicle and one in the forward partthereof. By the use of such an arrangement, a constant flow or movementof the passengers through the vehicle from the rear toward the front isachieved with a distribution of the departing passengers to the centerand forward exits.

It is the primary aim of the present invention to arrange in connectionwith two-story transportation means, especially with buses of this type,the exit and entrance to and from the lower deck and the stairways toand from the upper deck in such a manner that an uninterrupted, smoothmovement of the passengers is assured and, in particular, a rapidboarding and leaving of the passengers is achieved.

The present invention proposes as solution for the problems encounteredin connection with transportation devices of the type mentionedhereinabove to provide in the vehicle center a main exit of any knownconstruction and to provide a stairway from the platform adjoining thismain exit leading to the forward and rearward upper deck.

According to another feature in accordance with the present invention,the stairway which leads from the center platform of the vehicleadjoining the centrally disposed main exit extends at first in thetransverse direction of the vehicle and is subsequently bifurcated inthe upper portion thereof so that two individual stairways resulttherefrom which terminate, after rotation through an angle of about 90in opposite directions, in the forward and rear parts of the passengersspace of the upper deck.

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According to a further feature in accordance with the present invention,the stairway which forms the centrally disposed means for ascending toand descending from the upper deck is constructed in the lower partthereof of such width that it offers sutficient space for two personswalking alongside one another.

The present invention assures, in connection with twostory,transportation means, a smooth and continuous movement or fiow of thepassengers and a rapid boarding and descending therefrom since, incontrast to the known constructions of two-story transportation means,relatively short paths exist for passengers also when boarding orleaving the upper deck, i.e., paths reduced to about onehalf the vehiclelength.

By reason of the provision of the two individual stairways which startin the forward and rearward part of the upper deck and which are keptsufficiently wide in the lower part thereof for two persons alongsideeach other, double the number of persons may leave simultaneously theupper deck as in the known prior art constructions. In the arrangementaccording to the present invention, the leaving passengers have,therefore, already left the upper deck and the stairway as soon as thefirst boarding persons have reached the center platform over the rearhoarding platform after passing the conductor.

Furthermore, by the structural combination of the as cending anddescending stairway means at one and the same place within the vehicle,a constructional simplification and space-saving construction isachieved which additionally results, in an advantageous manner, in thepossibility of an increase in the available seating and standing spaceswithin the vehicle.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anarrangement and construction for a motor vehicle, especially a two-storytransportation device, which assures rapid boarding and leaving of thevehicle from all parts thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a two-storytransportation means which is so constructed and arranged as regards theentrance and exit means for the passengers thereof as to assure asmooth, continuous flow or" the passengers through the vehicle.

Still another object of the present invention resides in the provisionand arrangement of the entrances and exits for a two-story bus whichconsiderably reduce the path to be traversed between the point enteringand leaving the bus by a passenger, especially when utilizing the spacein the upper deck.

A further object of the present invention resides in the provision andarrangement of the entrance and exit doors for a two-storytransportation device which are space-saving in nature and provideadditional space for the seating and standing places of the passengers.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more obvious from the following description whentaken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, forpurposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the lower deck of a two-storytransportation device in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the upper deck of the two-storytransportation device in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a partial cross-sectional view through the upper and lowerdeck of the transportation device in accordance with the presentinvention taken within the center region of the vehicle.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the three views thereof to designate corresponding parts,reference numeral 11 designates the rear entrance disposed at or nearthe rear end of the bus which is adapted to permit boarding of thepassengers from the street to the rear platform 12. A main exit 13 whichis wider than the forward exit 14 is disposed essentially in the centerof the vehicle.

A centrally disposed stairway 16, which is made sufficiently wide sothat it offers suificient space for two persons alongside each other,leads from the center platform 15 adjoinin the center exit 13 to theupper deck. The stairway 16 simultaneously therewith serves for purposesof enabling persons to descend from the upper deck to the lower deck.

The center stairway 16, the lower section of which extends essentiallyin a transverse direction with respect to the vehicle, is bifurcated inthe upper section thereof and forms thereat two individual stairways 17and i8 which may also be structurally interconnected or combined alongthe mutually inner sides thereof. Each of the stairways 17 and 1Sterminates, after a rotation through an angle of 90, in a respective oneof the two passenger spaces disposed in the upper deck toward the frontand rear in opposite directions or pass over into the uninterrupted,longitudinally extending aisle 19 of the upper deck.

Reference numeral 20 designates the seating places disposed in the lowerdeck of which any suitable number may be provided. It is understood, ofcourse, that the arangement thereof within the vehicle may be changedwithout departing from'the spirit of the present invention, that thenumber of seats depends on the actual length and dimension of thevehicle and that the number and arrangement; thereof herein are only forpurposes of illustration. Moreover, the seats 20 may be of any suitableconstruction.

The seats 20 in the lower deck may be reached by the passengers over thecentral aisle 21 which extends in the longitudinal direction of thevehicle from the rear toward the front thereof. The seats in the upperdeck are designated by reference numeral 22 whereby again thearrangement and/or the number thereof may be varied depending on theactual dimensions of the vehicle while any suitable construction for theseats may also be used.

As may be seen particularly from FIGURE 3, the space 23 behind and underthe central stairway 16 may be utilized for purposes of accommodatingauxiliary parts, such as a fuel tank 24 and/or the batteries 25.Furthermore, a luggage space may be provided thereat. This useful space23 behind and under the stairway 16 may be accessible from the outsidethereof, for example, by means of movable lids or covers 26, possiblyadapted to be locked in any suitable manner. The lids or covers 26 maybe of any suitable construction, for example, may be pivotally securedin the lower part thereof and may be locked with any suitable means.

While I have shown and described one embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention, it is understood that the same is not limited theretobut is susceptible of many changes and modifications within the spiritand scope of the present invention, and I, therefore, do not wish to belimited to the particular details described and illustrated herein butintend to cover all those changes and modifications as are encompassedby the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1, An arrangementfor achieving a smooth movement of the passengers in atwo-story transportation device, especially in a bus, comprising apassenger-vehicle having a lower deck and an upper deck extendingsubstantially coextensive with each other, entrance means to enableboarding of the passengers disposed near one end of said vehicle andproviding ingress for the passengers from the outside of said vehicle tosaid lower deck, exit means disposed near the other end of said vehicleto enable the passengers to leave from said lower deck to the outside ofthe vehicle, bifurcated stairway meanswithin the vehicle leading fromsaid lower deck to said upper deck d and constituting the only means oftravel between said decks, main exit means disposed essentially in thecenter of said vehicle, and platform means substantially opposite saidmain exit means, said stairway means adjoining said platform means andleading therefrom into the front and rear part of said upper deck.

2. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of the passengers in atwo-story transportation device, especially in a bus, comprising apassenger vehicle having a lower deck and an upper deck, entrance meansto enable boarding of the passengers disposed in the rear part of thesaid vehicle and providing an ingress for the passengers from theoutside of said vehicle to said lower deck, exit means disposed in theforward part of said vehicle to enable the passengers to leave from saidlower deck to the outside of the vehicle, stairway means within thevehicle leading from the said lower deck to said upper deck, main exitmeans disposed essentially in the center of said vehicle, and platformmeans substantially opposite said main exit means, said stairway meansadjoining said platform means and leading therefrom to the front andrear part of said upper deck.

3. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of the passengers-in atwo-story transportation device according to claim 2, wherein saidstairway means extends in the lower part thereof essentiallytransversely with respect to said vehicleand is bifurcated in the upperpart thereof to provide two upper stairway portions, terminate ing inessentially opposite directions in the, forward. and

ear part of said upper deck.

4. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of the passengers ina. two-story transportation device according to claim 1, wherein saidstairway means is of such width in the lower part thereof asto enabletwo persons to move alongside each other.

5. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of the passengers in atwo-story transportation device according to claim 1, wherein the spacebelow said stair-.

way means forms a storage space, and means rendering said spaceaccessible from the outside of said vehicle.

6. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of the passengers in atwo-story transportation device according to claim 1, wherein saidbifurcated stairway means extends in the lower section thereof in thetransverse direction of the vehicle and is split into two upper stairwayportions subtending each an angle of approximately ninety degrees andterminating in opposite directions.

7. An arrangement for achieving a smooth movement of passengers in atwo-story transportation device, especially in a bus, comprising apassenger vehicle having a lower deck and an upper deck, said lower deckand said upper deck extending substantially coextensive with each other,entrance means to enable passengers to board said vehicle disposed nearthe rear of said vehicle and providing ingress from the outside of saidvehicle to said lower deck, main exit means disposed essentially in thecenter of said vehicle at one side thereof, platform means substantiallyopposite said main exit means adjacent the other side of said vehicle,stairway means adjoining said platform means and communicatingbetweensaid lower deck and said upper deck, said stairway means having alower part of a width enabling two persons to move alongside each otherand having an upper part being bifurcated to provide two stairwayportions terminating in essentially opposite directions in the forwardandrear parts of said;

upper deck, and further exit means disposed near the front of saidvehicle, said entrance means, said main exit means and said stairwaymeans thereby enabling both upper stairway portions to be utilized bydeparting upper deck passengers whiie incoming passengers are proceedingfrom the entrance means at the rear of the vehicle to said stairwaymeans.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Ci'ied in the file of thispatent OTHER REFERENCES FOREIGN PATENTS ArLicle, Pickwicks NewObservation-Buffet Parlor 217,108 Switzerland Jan 16 1942 Car, inAutobody Magazine, July 1927, pages 28-31. 335,072 Great Britain Sept1930 Aero l /z-Dsck Bus, article in Autemobile Engi- 352395 GreatBritain Jul 9, 9 5 merfNovfimbsf1955,Page

